Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘United States Environmental Protection Agency’

Texas Barnett Shale community finalist for EPA study

Posted in Air Quality, natural gas, tagged , , , on February 14, 2011 |

Even CSI is talking about fracking

According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the Barnett Shale natural gas fields of Denton and Wise counties are one of five finalists to be considered for a case study as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) examination of hydraulic fracturing.  

That is not a competition I would want to win, but if I were facing possible contamination of drinking-water supplies from oil and gas industry operations in areas where drilling and hydraulic fracturing have already occurred, I’d want to know what the extent of that pollution was.

Nevertheless. a Texas organizer for the Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability Project, expressed concern Wednesday about the study, stating she felt EPA would be using “people as guinea pigs.”  She called for the leaders in those Texas communities to consider placing a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing until after the study is complete (like that is going to happen–sadly probably not) and use some other community for the study. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Climate change deniers beget climate change deniers

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , on February 9, 2011 |

Congressman Fred Upton (R-Michigan)

Congressman Fred Upton (R-Michigan)

Michigan’s Fred Upton, who became the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in early January, is a climate change denier, reversing a position he took when he told his home town paper, the River Country Journal, in 1999 that, “Climate change is a serious problem that necessitates serious solutions. Everything must be on the table – particularly renewable sources of energy like wind and solar, nuclear power and clean coal technologies.”

In an interview this week at a public forum with journalist Ron Brownstein, when asked to explain why a bill he introduced with Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) challenging an Environmental Protection Agency finding portrays climate change as “possible.”  Upton said, “I have said many times, and there was a report a couple of weeks ago that in fact you look at this last year, it was the warmest year in the last decade, I think was the number that came out. I don’t — I accept that. I do not say that it is man-made and I know from the hearings that we had that even if cap and trade had been enacted, it would not have changed the temperature by a tenth of a degree, virtually anywhere in the world.”   The video of that interview went viral Tuesday.

Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott

Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott

So when the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott appeared today before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, complaining that the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations are, in his opinion, contrary to the Clean Air Act, his complaints were not met by unsympathetic ears. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Texas AG to testify in DC about Texas’ lawsuits against the EPA

Posted in Air Quality, tagged , , , , on February 9, 2011 |

Texas’ Attorney General, Greg Abbott is taking his fight with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to Washington DC today.

Texas Attorney General Greg AbbotAbbot will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on how he believes the EPA’s policies are affecting Texas.

Abbott, TCEQ and the governor have been on the warpath against the EPA for some time.  Abbott, has filed lawsuits against the EPA defending Texas’ flexible permit program that allows certain industries an exemption from having to disclose pollution for each individual smokestack at a facility and allowing them to aggregate all emissions from the plant together. Click here to read an earlier blog post on Texas’  flex permit program. The TCEQ didn’t even send a representative to an EPA public meeting in Dallas about the DFW’s efforts to come into compliance with the federal clean air standards.  Abbot is also challenging the EPA’s efforts to regulated greenhouse gases.   In late January, Abbott sent a letter to President Obama and congressional leaders asking them to push legislation limiting the EPA’s reach.

Abbot will make an opening statement and then take questions from the committee.

Abbott is the only state attorney general scheduled to testify today, according to the committee’s witness list.  Others on the list include EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, National Black Chamber of Commerce President Harry Alford and representatives from industries.

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas

Read Full Post »

Texas leads in use of diesel as fracking fluid

Posted in natural gas, tagged , , , , , on February 2, 2011 |

Drilling companies injected more than 32 million gallons of fluids containing diesel into the ground during hydraulic fracturing operations from 2005 to 2009, according to federal lawmakers.  About a third of the 32 million gallons was straight diesel fuel, with 49.8% of the 32.2 million gallons of fluid containing diesel injected into Texas wells.  Texas lead the 19 states using diesel as a fracking fluid, followed by Oklahoma at 10% of the 32.2 million gallons.

Hydraulic fracturing is a drilling technique that involves pumping millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals into underground formations to release greater quantities of gas and oil. The technique dates back several decades, but it has drawn new scrutiny from the public and regulators as its use has grown in recent years.

Concerns include the potential for the chemicals to get into drinking water or for natural gas to migrate into water wells.  While the industry says that such an incident rarely happens and can easily be avoided, some homeowners near Fort Worth would probably wouldn’t buy that claim.

Most hydraulic fracturing fluid uses water as its primary component, but in formations where water is absorbed too easily – such as in certain kinds of clay – diesel is used as an additive.

The EPA and industry agreed in 2003 that diesel wouldn’t be used in hydraulic fracturing jobs in coal bed methane formations, because drilling in those formations tends to be closer to drinking water sources.  At this time, none of the companies that used diesel as a fracking fluid could provide data on whether they performed hydraulic fracturing in or near underground sources of drinking water.

Lawmakers are asking the EPA to look at diesel use in its study into the safety of hydraulic fracturing.

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Read Full Post »

EPA listening to stakeholders about their proposed rules on greenhouse gas standards

Posted in Air Quality, Global Warming, tagged , , , on January 31, 2011 |

The Environmental Protection Agency will hold a series of “listening sessions” in the coming months in order to get input from stakeholders on the agency’s plans to implement new greenhouse gas standards on power plants and refineries.

If  you cannot make it to the sessions, each session will be webcast and recorded for later viewing at http://www.epa.gov/live and written comments on these planned rulemakings may also be submitted. The agency requests that written comments be submitted by March 18, 2011. For information and instructions on submitting written comments, go to http://www.epa.gov/airquality/listen.html.    

Below is a list of the “listening” sessions and their locations

Session 1: Electric Power Industry Representatives
Feb. 4, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (ET)
EPA Ariel Rios East Building
1301 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room 1153
Washington, D.C.

Session 2: Environmental and Environmental Justice Organization Representatives
Feb. 15, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (ET)
Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center
61 Forsyth Street, S.W., Atlanta/Augusta Room
Atlanta, Ga.

Session 3: State and Tribal Representatives
Feb. 17, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Ralph Metcalfe Federal Building
77 West Jackson Blvd., Lake Michigan Room
Chicago, Ill.

Session 4: Coalition Group Representatives
Feb. 23, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (ET)
EPA Ariel Rios East Building
1301 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room 1153
Washington, D.C.

Session 5: Petroleum Refinery Industry Representatives
March 4,  10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and public comments 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (ET)
EPA Ariel Rios East Building
1301 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room 1153
Washington, D.C.

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Read Full Post »

Representative Lon Burnam (D-Ft Worth) taking on climate change

Posted in Global Warming, Texas Legislature, tagged , , , , , , , on January 28, 2011 |

State Rep. Lon Burnam filed legislation (House Bill 977) that would have state agencies develop plans to address the implications their policies might have on climate change.

Burnam’s bill is similar to a measure he offered last session. The bill would have 12 entities in the state each publish a plan assessing that entity’s role with respect to climate change.  For example, the Department of Agriculture would “conduct a vulnerability assessment” of the state’s farmland and the Water Development Board would “devise a plan outlining its role in managing the changing water resources.”

All good ideas, we’ll see how far this makes it in this political climate.

Read Full Post »

Dewhurst backing off his old coal shutdown position

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Global Warming, natural gas, tagged , , , , on January 24, 2011 |

After Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst‘s remarks, made during his session-opening luncheon just a week ago,  about his plans to push for “regulatory and fiscal incentives” to phase out the heavy-polluting coal plants that were built back to the 1970s and replace them with natural gas plants, the Lt. Governor is now back pedalling saying he’s NOT pushing for fast shutdown of Texas’ aging or inefficient coal-fired power plants.  Instead, he wants to gradually increasing the use of cleaner-burning, Texas natural gas through market-based incentives.dewhurst (coal vs gas)

Dewhurst backed off his earlier stance after the Dallas Morning News suggested the plan would mean lights out for Texas, since those old plants account for some 8,300 megawatts.

Coal vs gas could be yet another controversy as the 2011 session heats up. There’s pressure from the EPA and elsewhere for Texas to lower its pollution levels, and the feds show little sign of backing away from their efforts to regulated greenhouse gas emissions.

One thing is obvious, Dewhurst doesn’t want to caught in crossfire of the coal vs. gas battle.  Instead, he is falling back on standard industry language, meant to placate everyone.  “In order to meet our current energy demands and fuel our economy, Texas will continue to rely on the use of coal, wind, nuclear and solar power, in addition to natural gas, as part of our diversified energy portfolio.”

Oh for the days when occasionally a politician would take a position – right or wrong, popular or unpopular – and stand by it.

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Read Full Post »

DFW designated a “serious” violator of federal air-quality standards

Posted in Air Quality, tagged , , , , , on January 16, 2011 |

The Dallas-Fort Worth area has long been recognized as among the most traffic-congested areas in America, and immediately following the MLK holiday, it will be recognized by the federal government as having some of the most polluted air as well.

The region will become known as a “serious” violator of air-quality standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a designation that will put it infamously among the worst-offending metro areas in the country.

Five other regions in the country are even worse, labeled either “severe” or “extreme,” with  Houston also considered a severe offender.

In order to deal with this designation, the state will need to chart a new compliance plan for the region, something that could govern the kinds of highway projects and other infrastructure that is built in North Texas.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will be required to develop a clean-air plan tailored to the nine-county DFW nonattainment area by July 2012.  Much of this is already under way.

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

 

 

Read Full Post »

Sunset Recommendations Coming Wednesday

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , on January 11, 2011 |

The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission will make its recommendations on how and whether to allow such state agencies as the Railroad Commission, the Public Utility Commission and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stay in business, tomorrow, January 12th.

The meeting convenes at 8 a.m. in the Senate Finance Committee room Room E1.036, Capitol Extension, 1400 Congress Avenue, Austin, Tx.  However, we don’t expect the Commission to get around to the Railroad Commission or TCEQ until after noon and the final Vote on Commission Recommendations to the 82nd Legislature is the last thing on their agenda.

Meeting materials are available on the Sunset Commission’s website at http://www.sunset.state.tx.us/whatsnew.htm.

Staff reports on the above agencies are available at http://www.sunset.state.tx.us/82.htm.

If you want to watch the meeting via the internet rather than attending, access is available through a live  broadcast at www.senate.state.tx.us/bin/live.php.

Current status of the proceedings will be posted at www.sunset.state.tx.us.

Join this meeting however you can.  It should prove to be interesting.

Related Articles

Read Full Post »

EPA wants to move ahead and issue Texas greenhouse gas permits

Posted in Air Quality, tagged , , , , on January 7, 2011 |

According to the Associated Press, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has asked a Washington court to allow it to issue greenhouse gas permits in Texas, even though the state has asked the judges to stop the federal move.

The EPA filed its motion on Thursday in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. The motion came after the court asked the agency to wait until Friday before implementing its plan to directly issue the permits in Texas, the nation’s leader in greenhouse gas emissions and industrial pollution.

In its court plea, Texas accused the EPA of overstepping its authority, but the EPA argues that Texas has left it no choice. Texas is the only state that has refused to comply with the EPA’s new greenhouse gas rules that went into effect on Jan. 2.

Related Articles

Read Full Post »

TCEQ gets an earful from citizens at the Sunset hearing

Posted in Air Quality, Sunset, TCEQ, Texas Legislature, tagged , , , , on December 16, 2010 |

A Texas Sunset Advisory Commission hearing, which was part of the first legislative review of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 12 years, drew hundreds of regular citizens from around the state, with most of them saying the agency had failed to protect them from pollution. Dozens of people, including doctors, school teachers, church-going grandmothers and a rabbi, who were able to stick it out until well after 5pm before the Sunset Commissioners got around to taking their testimony, asked Texas lawmakers to make the state’s environmental agency tougher on polluters.

The Legislature’s Sunset Advisory Commission evaluates and considers potential reforms at state agencies every 12 years, and its findings have the potential to lead to significant changes in the TCEQ’s operations during the legislative session that begins next month, if the Sunset Commissioners so recommends.

The Sunset commission’s staff, in response to complaints that TCEQ is too lenient on polluters, has recommended that the Legislature increase the statutory cap on penalties from $10,000 to $25,000, as well as change the way the agency calculates fines.  In fact, TCEQ agreed with the two dozen recommendations made by the Sunset commission’s staff, but TCEQ critics are asking for even more changes.  They accused the agency of being too cozy with industry and ignoring public concerns. They expressed frustration over the recent approval of air pollution permits for coal-fired power plants near Abilene and Bay City, about 60 miles southwest of Houston, even though State Office of Administrative Hearings administrative law judges recommended denying both permits.

Texas Sunset Commissioner, State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen) asked TCEQ Chairman Bryan Shaw whether the agency has the authority to deny a permit application. Shaw said yes, and it had done so 14 percent of the time.  However, no one pursued how many had been denied in the past four years or if any of them had been for large industrial projects since TCEQ’s permitting process ranges from permits for auto repair and lube service shops to dry cleaning facilities to waste water treatment plants to billion dollar coal-fired electric plants. 

Wesley Stafford, an asthma and allergy specialist in Corpus Christi who opposes a proposed petroleum coke-fired plant in Corpus Christi because of the potential public health effects, asked lawmakers to require that one of the TCEQ commissioners be a physician to “bring more balance to the commission than we’ve seen in recent years.”   In the face of these criticisms, TCEQ Commissioner Buddy Garcia defended the agency’s performance, saying that it protects public health by “following the law”.

The Sunset staff’s 124-page analysis does not address the heated dispute between the federal government and Texas over the way the state regulates industrial air pollution that resulted in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently rejecting some of the state’s permitting rules, saying they fall short of federal Clean Air Act requirements.  Texas has challenged the decision in court, even though the problems were first brought to the TCEQ’s attention shortly after the Texas rules were implemented, as far back as the Bush administration.  It is unlikely that the Sunset Commission will address these issues, and they will probably leave it to the courts to sort out that conflict.  But the Sunset Commissioners do have the opportunity to address the issues put to them by the citizen’s of Texas who pleaded with them yesterday for change.  Their recommendations will be released on January 11th, the day the 82nd legislature convenes.

Cross your fingers and hope they take up that mantle.

Read Full Post »

Drilling for Dollars: How Big Money Plays a Big Role at the Railroad Commission

Posted in Campaign Finance, Sunset, tagged , , , , , , on December 14, 2010 |

 

 

Andy Wilson talking at a press conference on campaign finance in the Railroad Commission at the Texas Capitol

 

Hey folks, here’s our press release about the report I’ve been slaving away over working on. Money’s a problem at the Railroad Commission. How bad? You have no idea. Read on, if you dare, and join us for our 1pm press conference in the Speaker’s press room in the Texas Capitol.

Sweeping changes are needed at the Texas Railroad Commission because of the huge amount of industry money being poured into the campaign coffers of sitting commissioners, a study released today by Public Citizen found.

The report, “Drilling for Dollars: How Big Money Has a Big Influence at the Railroad Commission,” details how fundraising by incumbents increased 688 percent between 2000 and 2008. It also shows that the biggest driver of the increase was donations from individuals associated with the fossil fuel industries – the same industries the commission is charged with regulating.

“We need fundamental reform at the Texas Railroad Commission,” said Andy Wilson, a campaign finance researcher with Public Citizen and one of the authors of the report. “The Legislature needs to change how railroad commissioners are elected or do away with electing commissioners all together.”

Cover of report Drilling for Dollars

The report details where the commissioners’ campaign money is coming from. By 2010, 80 percent of all donations to incumbents were from industry, up from 45 percent in 2000. The volume of donations from industry also increased nearly fivefold, from just over $420,000 in 2000 to more than $2 million in 2008. And while “big money” has always played a role, it has gotten even larger: In 2000, 80 percent of all money came in donations of $1,000 or more; by 2008, it was 85 percent and an astounding 92 percent for 2010.

“The Sunset Advisory Commission called campaign fundraising a ‘possible conflict of interest,’ and that is putting it mildly,” Wilson said. “What we see is the absolute domination of campaign money by the fossil fuel industries in Texas. One of every two dollars raised by sitting railroad commissioners comes from individuals and corporations whose fortunes rest upon the decisions made by the commission. Commissioners may play coy and act innocent – they may not even see themselves as being influenced – but the people writing the checks know exactly what they are doing.”

This is of particular concern to Texans because decisions made at the railroad commission affect them every day. Charged with regulating the oil and gas industry, the Texas Railroad Commission has failed to protect Texas families who live on top of the Barnett Shale. Gas drilling on the shale contributes more to air pollution than all of the cars and trucks in the Dallas-Fort Worth region combined, according to research done while at Southern Methodist University by EPA Region 6 Administrator Al Armindariz. And just this week the EPA issued an endangerment order, ordering gas drillers to clean up contaminated drinking water.

Public Citizen’s report examined and catalogued campaign finance disclosures from the Texas Ethics Commission and identified those individuals and entities who identified themselves as being a part of the fossil fuel industry, a lobbyist or from a law firm. Concerned industry insiders and other public interest advocacy groups identified additional individuals and entities as being members of the industry.

The Texas Railroad Commission is undergoing a sunset review, mandatory every 12 years for every Texas state agency. In a special session of the Legislature in 2009, the review of the railroad commission, along with several other state agencies, was moved up by two years to be done in the 82nd Legislature, which convenes in January. The Sunset Advisory Commission will hear public testimony on the railroad commission on Wednesday at the State Capitol.

A copy of the report can be found at: http://www.citizen.org/drillingfordollars

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

 

Related Articles

Read Full Post »

TCEQ to vote on flex permit revisions, but EPA says it still may not be good enough

Posted in Air Quality, TCEQ, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 13, 2010 |

The proposed revisions to the state’s controversial (and according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – illegal) flexible air permitting programs submitted in June in an effort to reach a compromise with the EPA, are scheduled for a formal vote at tomorrow’s hearing of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

Under the proposed revisions, facilities with flexible permits would be subject to stricter record-keeping.  In addition, tighter caps would be placed on some emission points within affected facilities.

The EPA has ruled that Texas’ flexible permits do not comply with the U.S. Clean Air Act, and that ruling has touch off a political and legal war between the state and the federal agency. The state’s legal challenge to the EPA is pending in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The program, which has been in place since 1994 without the EPA’s formally approval, even with the proposed revisions to address the EPA’s concerns, still has provisions that the federal agency, during the public comment period, deemed “too broad.”

TENASKA Air Permit

Also on TCEQ’s agenda tomorrow is the air quality application for Tenaska Energy of Omaha’s 600-megawatt plant, Trailblazer Energy Center between Sweetwater and Abilene in Nolan County.

We expect the permit will be approved by the Commissioner, since it is a rubberstamp commission, however, the administrative law judges from the State Office of Administrative Hearings, which heard several days of testimony about Tenaska’s plans, recommended in October that TCEQ should require the plant to meet stricter limits on a range of harmful emissions that the facility would produce.

Under the ALJs’ recommendations, Trailblazer would have to demonstrate that the plant would have lower emissions for nitrogen oxide, or NOX, as measured by 24-hour and 30-day averages and lower volatile organic compound, or VOC, emissions as measured by 30-day and 12-month averages than currently projected.

The judges also asked that a special condition be imposed that would require VOC testing both when the carbon-capturing technology is being used at the plant and when the technology is being bypassed.

Goliad Uranium Mining

Also on this action packed agenda is Uranium Energy Corporation’s (UEC) proposed permit to drill for uranium in Goliad county.

An administrative law judge from the State Office of Administrative Hearings recommended in September that UEC be required to do additional testing on the fault area covered by the permit, which is about 13 miles north of the city of Goliad and nearly a mile east of the intersection of State Highway 183 and Farm-to-Market Road 1961.  If granted, the permit would allow uranium drilling in a 423.8-acre area, according to the docket.

The TCEQ hearing starts at 9:30 a.m. at the agency’s headquarters 12100 Park 35 Circle (near Interstate 35 and Yager Lane in North Austin).  If you want to watch the streaming video of this hearing, click here.  Video is also archived on this site, generally within 24 hours after a hearing and you can get to it from the same link above if you can’t watch it tomorrow while it is happening.

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Read Full Post »

E.P.A. delaying tougher rules on emissions. Are global warming gases next?

Posted in Air Quality, Global Warming, Toxics, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 12, 2010 |

Air pollution

Image via Wikipedia

In the face of the changes in the political dynamic in Washington, the Obama administration is retreating on long-delayed environmental regulations.  The new rules were set to take effect over the next several weeks, but this move will leave in place policies set by President George W. Bush while it pushes back deadlines to  July 2011 to further analyze scientific and health studies of the smog rules and until April 2012 on the boiler regulation.
Environmental advocates fear a similar delay on the approaching start of one of the most far-reaching regulatory programs in American environmental history, the effort to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

The delayed smog rule would lower the allowable concentration of airborne ozone to 60 to 70 parts per billion from the current level of 75 parts per billion, putting several hundred cities in violation of air pollution standards. The agency says that the new rule would save thousands of lives per year, but saving lives now seems to have taken a back seat to saving the costs to businesses and municipalities of having to meet those standards.

Read Full Post »

Flammable drinking water sparks explosions over Barnett Shale drilling

Posted in Air Quality, Energy, natural gas, Toxics, tagged , , , on December 10, 2010 |

Barnett Shale

The Texas Railroad Commission (RCC) will hold a special hearing January 10th to look into the complaints of methane in two Parker County drinking water wells that prompted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week to order a natural gas drilling company to take steps to remediate the problem.  The RRC has not yet  posted the starting time or place but we will let you know as we hear more.

Both the Railroad Commission and Range Resources, which drilled the Barnett Shale gas wells near the two homes affected by the methane-laden water, accused the EPA of acting in haste when they issued an order of remediation late Tuesday.  Both the RRC and Range Resources claimed there was insufficient evidence to blame drilling operations for the situation.  But critics of the drilling operations in North Texas suggested that the Railroad Commission was acting more as a booster than a regulator of the natural gas industry.

In its emergency order, the EPA said that its testing suggests that the gases found in the water and gases from Range’s wells “are likely to be from the same source.” The EPA also pointed out that there were no reports of methane in either of the two water wells that were drilled in 2002 and 2005 until after Range sunk its nearby gas wells in 2009.

In the Railroad Commission’s response to the EPA order, all three commissioners suggested the federal agency was needlessly overstepping its authority. And the commission included a detailed timeline showing the progress of its own investigation into the affected drinking water wells.

If you live in the Barnett Shale region and are concerned, we urge you to attend this hearing.  We will post details about the hearing as soon as they are available.

If you are concerned that the RailRoad Commission is not being protective of the health and well-being of Texans, consider attending the Sunset Advisory Commission‘s hearing on the RRC and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality next week, December 15th.  See our earlier blog for details.

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »